We might not need as high a salary as previously thought for day-to-day happiness and life satisfaction, according to a new poll. The magic number used to be $75,000, but the tipping point for happiness appears to be 33% lower, at $50,000.

According to a study focusing on 450,000 Americans and how they evaluate their happiness, a salary…
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Marist Institute for Public Opinion surveyed 1,235 Americans and found significant differences in almost all aspects of happiness between those who earn less than $50,000 and those who earn more—measures of their quality of life, free time, health, spiritual life, feelings of loneliness, expectations about aging, etc.

Researcher Susan McCulloch told LearnVest that the $50,000 mark is when you start to see those significant differences.

The moral may be to work to get to that happiness income level and then focus on spending your time and energy pursuing other things that will make you happy ("don't work too much" being one of the most common deathbed regrets, after all). Thoughts?